After the Battle
by HourglassGluedToTheTable
Summary: "If you don't create change, change will create you". A reflection on how different characters changed after the Final Battle.


After the battle, George has a drinking problem. For about a year, he spends most of his time in a pub, drinking his sorrows away. Angelina doesn't know what to do to help him. All she can do is wait for him to finally come home, eyes fogged and stumbling, and she's standing there with open arms wondering why she even got herself in this mess in the first place. But then he sees her, and his face lights up, and she realizes just how _beautiful_ he is when he smiles, and she pulls him to her and thinks that this time, maybe he's come back to her for good.

And then the pattern repeats.

After the battle, Harry is able to lighten up a little more, which he does realize is _horribly_ unfair given the fact that his favorite family is _devastated _over the death of one of their own. He is devastated as well, but he can't help but realize how lucky he is to have made it through all of that. And how lucky he is that his friends made it through, and his love, with the odds not in their favor. He is so grateful for Ginny, more so in the fact that she has this effect on him in her presence where he can't think of_anything_ but her, and the _feel _of her, and the _taste_ of her. With her tough skin and her tendency to never open up, she taught him to stop thinking about himself and just focus on someone else for a change.

He thought of it as his greatest triumph when Ginny leaked that first tear, and he was there to catch her.

After the battle, Ron becomes a little more solemn, a little more serious, a little more secluded. He still has a tendency to joke around at inappropriate times, but a lot of the time he is sitting by himself, with this haunted look in his eye, like he is being tormented by his worst nightmare. But, Hermione is normally able to take him out of that. And he has these _amazing_ hands, and they are running all over her body in just the right places and she feels his breath on her neck and she can't believe she waited so long.

And then, she wonders how after 50+ years of marriage, she can still go weak in the knees when he kissed her, just like she did when she was 19.

After the battle, it is well known that Ginny must be one of the strongest people. After everything she has been through, with the love of her life leaving her on what seemed to be a suicide mission, carrying the responsibility of the welfare of the _entire_ student body during the year of the battle, and facing the death of her brother, she rarely ever breaks down. The only time Harry finally gets past her hard shell is a week after the funeral.

He reaches out and holds her while she cries a years worth of tears.

After the battle, Hermione tried to keep her feelings in check while Ron was so emotionally imbalanced, but it's so hard, and she is so tired, and she can't help but wonder why she still isn't bloody _done _with this. She just wants to be in his arms again, like she was after Malfoy Manor, and even more like she was during that heated moment in the battle. She tries to be strong, but she isn't Ginny, she's Hermione, and her emotions will _always_ get the better of her. So, she sits, crying, in the middle of an abandoned hallway, and she's seeing the mangled bodies and terrifying images flash before her eyes. And she's seeing Ron stare at her with so much care, and she's seeing those late night study sessions during sixth year when Ron always just _happened_ to walk in on her in the Common Room. And she aches and she just wishes things would finally be okay again.

And then she feels two arms wrap around her, and she smells that delicious Ron smell, and she hears his voice in her ear saying, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, things will finally go her way.

After the battle, Neville doesn't laugh at Luna's beliefs. He's too preoccupied by how absolutely… _Luna_ she is. She is just herself, all alone, and he has no idea how she does it, because it took him 17 years for _him_ to be able to be himself, and he had support. He thinks its incredible that she is so certain of who she is and what she wants to do, while he has about the next 10 minutes planned.

So, he looks at her and he breathes her in and he just can't believe how _lucky_ he really is.

After the battle, Draco becomes the perfect gentleman. He changes so drastically that leaves everyone wondering how anyone could _possibly_ go from being the little brat that he was to someone so utterly perfect, so irresistible, so… s_ingle_. That the public knows of. He tends to keep his private life private. It's obvious he still feels a constant nag of guilt from what he did during the year of the battle, too. Especially obvious when he is spotted being screamed at on the street by haters who feel he was personally responsible for the death of a family member. He just stands there and takes it, never lifting a finger, even when it gets as far as an attack. And as he closes his eyes and takes it in, one can see that he needs the constant reminder that comes when he hears those accusations.

It's like reopening a wound; because then he knows that others aren't forgiving him, and he can make sure that he never forgives himself.


End file.
